


you make me go nuts

by socially_awkward_di



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff and Humor, Happy Ending, M/M, Soobin LOVES the almond milk, Soobin and Yeonjun are kind of rivals but they themselves don't know why, Soobin is the president of the The almond milk Club (c), a lot of nut puns (nothing inappropriate though), everyone is happy, the shop owner is the happiest because his business is thriving, you'll have to read to know why though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:27:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27865349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/socially_awkward_di/pseuds/socially_awkward_di
Summary: Soobin, the self-proclaimed president of theThe almond milkClub (c) loves the almond milk but one day Yeonjun, a cool senior, appears and leaves him without his favourite drink. Soobin decides that the war has been declared.Who will snatch the last pack ofThe almond milk? Who will win in the end? And what will the winner get?
Relationships: Choi Soobin/Choi Yeonjun
Comments: 11
Kudos: 94





	you make me go nuts

**Author's Note:**

> good time of the day~
> 
> links to the websites where I found the nut puns :з
> 
> www.welovepuns.com  
> www.jokes4us.com  
> https://punpedia.org

‘…and that is the climax of _The Catcher in the Rye_. Now the lecture is over. Thank you,’ the professor turned around and began wiping the blackboard.

Once quiet classroom became polluted with noises coming from dozens of students moving their chairs, talking to each other and packing their bags.

‘Ugh,’ Soobin groaned stretching his back on the chair. Almost three years of studying in this university and his back keeps getting sore after just one lecture. Why do they always make chairs for educational institutions _this_ uncomfortable; shouldn’t the environment motivate students to learn more? One can hardly sit for an hour and twenty minutes on these wooden torture devices, let alone consume information.

Anyway, it was lunch time and Soobin craved some almond milk since early morning so without hesitation he headed towards the little shop close to his university, the only place in the entire district that could satisfy his need for _The almond milk_ (a very straightforward name for the brand if you ask Soobin). Now, don’t get the boy wrong, there are lots of different brands that produce the nutty goodness but Choi Soobin, the self-proclaimed President of the _The almond milk_ Club ©, could only tolerate said brand. There was something about the texture, about the flavour, the temperature of the drink that made it simply perfect, not only that but it was also produced by a small eco-friendly company. Unfortunately, this meant that the milk could only be obtained from a small number of shops and in a rather small quantities but there was a silver lining — it was on sale in the small shop not too far from the campus. 

So, with the tingling feeling of anticipation Soobin entered the shop, with a beaming smile he greeted the cashier and headed straight to the little nook where they had plant milks. To his surprise there already stood another customer which was a rarity because the majority of people went for banana or strawberry milk that was placed on the same shelf as cow’s milk in a nice freezer in the middle of the store (probably a business trick of some sorts).

The customer, tall guy around Soobin’s age with pink hair tied in a small ponytail, looked a bit lost. It was quite obvious this was his first time picking something like this and for a novice in the alternative milk field it could be a bit overwhelming, you can have Soobin’s word on this one. Not wanting to hover and distract the guy Soobin decided to pretend he was looking at the kitchen utensils that were on display next to the shelf with milks (another business trick?), he had some time left until the next class so it wasn’t a big deal. Finally, the guy made up his mind, picked a small carton of milk and turned to go to the cashier. Soobin turned to take his place. Their eyes met and Soobin, being his usual self, blushed a little and immediately looked away, noticing that the guy was holding none other than the infamous _The almond milk_.

 _’Well, he certainly has taste,’_ Soobin thought to himself and risked looking the guy in the face again realising that he was still looking at Soobin. They stood there for a hot second, Soobin progressively getting redder and redder under the scrutinizing gaze of the stranger who, it seemed, had no intentions to move anytime soon. _’Can’t he just leave?’_ Soobin thought a bit irritated looking anywhere but at the pair of sharp eyes in front of him and then he became painfully aware that he, the giant that he is, was blocking the guy’s way.

‘Oh, I’m so sorry,’ he began frantically apologizing trying to find a place to stand so that the guy could leave. Finally, he managed to squeeze himself in-between the isles with ramen and soda. Soobin was beyond embarrassed and it did not help that he was losing his dignity in front of a cool dude with multiple piercings in his ears and a cool layered outfit consisting of a black turtleneck with a golden cross on the chest, black jacket, just one leather glove, black trousers with cool pockets and high laced boots (yup, Soobin took his sweet time examining the guy’s clothes while they were standing there). ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to keep you waiting,’ he mumbled looking at the ground.

The guy let out a laugh and proceeded to go to the cashier. And Soobin could swear he heard him say _’cute’_ under his breath. Was Soobin hallucinating or did the hot stranger with great taste in almond milk just call him _’cute’_!?

Whisking away the thought he finally got to the sacred shelf and faced the harsh reality — the stranger took the last carton of his almond milk.

Well, shit.

* * *

Thankfully Soobin managed to snatch a pack of _The almond milk_ the next day during lunch. He was walking in one of the university halls with his prized possession when a familiar pink-haired figure walked past him in the opposite direction. Their eyes met for a split second but Soobin was pretty sure there was a hint of recognition in the guy’s eyes. 

_’Wow, he goes here too! How come I’ve never noticed him before?’_ Soobin thought slowly drinking the milk. 

After that he started noticing the pink-haired guy everywhere: in the halls, in the cafeteria, in the library, in some of the classes, near the gates, you name it — the dude was there.

‘You know that it’s called the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon?’ Huening Kai, his freshman friend, asked trying to look clever and all. ‘It is the feeling that once something has been noticed then every instance of that thing is noticed, leading to the belief it has a high frequency of occurrence,’ he said in one breath.

‘Sounds like stalking to me,’ said Beomgyu, sophomore, taking a bite from his garlic bread.

‘But Soobin hyung doesn’t go out of his way to look for Yeonjun hyung,’ Taehyun, another freshman, retorted calmly. The four of them gathered at the cafeteria to complain about life and all.

‘Wait!’ Soobin, Beomgyu and Kai looked at him with wide eyes. ‘You know him?!’

A small grin appeared on Taehyun’s face but was quickly replaced by his usual expression:

‘Yeah, longish pink hair, tall, cool and attractive — name is Choi Yeonjun, senior. He helps the student council sometimes so we’ve spoken a few times,’ he shrugged.

‘Wow, Taehyun-ah, you are so cool — having friends among seniors!’ Beomgyu marveled.

The boy in question blushed a bit and said:

‘We are not friends per se. The only thing I know about him is that he hates when people call him “Yeonjun-ssi”. Thought you might need that information, Soobin hyung.’

Soobin looked taken aback:

‘Me? Why?’

‘Dunno. Just in case,’ he took a sip of his peach flavoured juice.

* * *

_’Almond milk, bread, two packs of ramen, fish cakes. Almond milk, bread, two packs of ramen, fish cakes,’_ Soobin was repeating the list over and over again in his head as he entered the familiar store. _’Almond milk, bread, two packs of ramen, fish cakes. Almond milk, bread, two packs of ramen-‘_ He suddenly stopped in his tracks at the milk nook. Right in front of the shelf stood Yeonjun, he turned his head to look at the newcomer and…smirked(?) when he saw it was Soobin. With mischief in his eyes he grabbed something from the shelf and left quickly.

Soobin was a bit baffled as to what had just happened but decided not to ponder about it too much. He needed to buy _The almond milk_ and other things that were on the list, then get back to his friends. But yet again the usual spot of his favourite milk was empty. _’Yeonjun hyung,’_ the name flashed in his mind. Soobin was pissed.

\-----

‘He bought the last one! Again!’ Complained Soobin while taking out the snacks for his three friends.

‘Maybe,’ Beomgyu immediately opened the fish cake, ‘it was just a coincidence?’

‘You should have seen his eyes. He clearly did it on purpose,’ grumpy Soobin plumped on the chair pouting. He looked around the cafeteria out of boredom while the happy trio beside him was devouring the snacks. And guess what? Across from their table sat Yeonjun with his friends. What a _pleasant_ surprise. To top it all the older looked Soobin in the eyes with a sly grin, lifted _The almond milk_ and made a “cheers” gesture. The audacity!? Soobin was beyond himself with anger and disappointment because if it hadn’t been for the older _he_ would have been the one with the nutty goodness in his hands. So, to show how hurt and heart-broken he was Soobin didn’t think of anything better than to humph, theatrically cross his arms and pout even more. Yeonjun noticed his manifestations and laughed mouthing “cute”. Soobin immediately blushed and looked away trying to pay attention to whatever his friends were saying.

\------

The next day Soobin went to the shop earlier than usually hoping to get there ahead of Yeonjun. However, as he was ready to enter the building he ran into the person he was trying to outrun. Said person had his arms full of cartons of _The almond milk_. Soobin was ready to cry: obviously there was no need to check — the older bought up the entire stock of his milk. The worst part was that Yeonjun didn’t look a tiny bit ashamed; quite the contrary, he winked at Soobin and sent him a flying kiss.

Soobin understood: _the war had been declared_. And he had all the intentions to win it.

* * *

Once he arrived at the shop before the opening hours. To say the clerk was surprised when a 6’1’’ dude barged into his store, grabbed four packs of almond milk, payed, smiled the most adorable smile in the world and left was an understatement.

When he met Yeonjun in one of the halls that day the both of them looked daggers at each other.

Another time they saw each other across the street and as if on cue bolted to the shop. Turned out Yeonjun was quite sporty because he managed to outrun Soobin and get the precious prize in the form of _The almond milk_.

* * *

‘He’ll end up with an allergy or a sick stomach if he continues to drink almond milk in such quantities,’ Soobin snorted glaring at the older who was sipping the milk a little too showy for Soobin’s taste.

‘Pff, hyung, same goes for you,’ said unamused Kai. Beomgyu and Taehyun stopped paying attention to the childish rivalry of his hyung a while ago.

‘First of all, I don’t drink all of them at once — I reward myself.’

‘Uh huh, keep telling yourself this, hyung.’

‘Secondly, it’s a matter of honour. I wasn’t proclaimed the _The almond milk_ Club © for nothing.’

‘You literally proclaimed yourself.’

‘Besides the point. And lastly, I don’t know why but I really don’t want to lose to Yeonjun hyung.’

‘Yea-a-ah, I wonder _why_ is that,’ Taehyun drawled.

‘Are you implying something?’ Soobin was genuinely confused.

‘Me? No,’ the boy shook his head. ‘I was talking to Beomgyu.’

Upon hearing his name Beomgyu who was previously napping on Taehyun’s shoulder perked up.

‘You called for me, Taehyun-ah?’ 

For some reason Taehyun blushed and motioned for the boy to continue sleeping.

‘Anyway, back to the urgent problem, what is wrong with this hyung? Why is he stealing my milk? There are at least three other brands on the same shelf why does he always go for _my_ almond milk?’ Soobin looked puzzled.

‘Maybe he has ulterior motives?’ Kai suggested.

‘For example?’

‘Dunno. Maybe you crossed his path in the past or he is the ghost from your childhood coming back for revenge?’

‘Maybe you need to watch less anime, Hyuka?’

‘Wait, hyung, suddenly I can’t hear.’

‘Yah, language!’ Soobin playfully slapped him on the hand.

‘Sorry-sorry. But I really have no idea why he is doing it. Let’s just wait and see, maybe he’ll do something different.’

And something different he did.

One day Soobin came to the store, with a sigh looked at the empty shelf from afar and just as he was about to leave, he noticed a folded piece of paper lying on the spot where the milk usually was. Curious, Soobin bee-lined to the milk nook, made sure no one was looking and took the note. He unfolded it and found just one line written inside. It read:

_Why was the almond late for work? Traffic was NUTS. Y.J. <3_

* * *

‘Now what is _that_ supposed to mean!?’ Soobin presented the note to his friends.

‘Wow, dad jokes. You two deserve each other,’ Taehyun said glancing at the text.

‘Hey, my jokes are actually funny,’ Soobin argued.

‘But you laughed at this one,’ Taehyun calmly parried.

‘No I didn’t,’ Soobin blushed and looked away.

‘You totally did, hyung,’ Beomgyu poked his reddened cheeks.

‘Okay, fine,’ he raised his hands in surrender. ‘I did. But it wasn’t a full laugh. Just a tiny smirk.’

‘Uh huh, keep telling yourself this, hyung,’ said Kai.

‘Is it just me or have we already heard this line?’ Soobin rolled his eyes.

‘So, what are you going to do now?’ Taehyun asked.

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean, he is clearly flirting with you. What’s your move?’

‘Flirting?! Who? Yeonjun? With _me_? Nah, he’s probably making fun of me.’

‘And if he’s not?’ The younger raised an eyebrow.

‘He _is_. Believe me, I already know him good enough. So there’s no need for me to do anything,’ for some reason Soobin sounded a bit…sad?

* * *

Next time he found another note.

_I have a pun but I will nut tell you :p okay-okay, you have nuthing to worry about (look at the bottom of the page)_

Soobin would never admit it to his friends but he actually found Yeonjun’s jokes funny and the notes made him feel warm inside even though he should be pissed at the older for stealing his milk.

At the bottom of the page he found another line:

_Why did the almond take apart the classic car? To get down to the nuts and bolts._

With a big smile Soobin put the note in his pocket and exited the store. And he could swear that as he was walking out of the door, he caught a glimpse of pink hair around the corner.

* * *

Their rivalry went on for several months and at some point Soobin realized that he was no longer mad at Yeonjun, quite the opposite, he looked forward to little notes or small flowers left by the older and he got visibly upset when the shelf was full of his favourite drink. Sometimes Soobin would buy just one carton and leave a note of his own that read something like:

_Good time of the day, Yeonjun hyung. You do nut need to buy the milk up today — I already bought one ^-^ btw peanuts also have aspirations of flying around in space suits, these are called astronuts~_

One day the note was different. It felt more like a letter and Soobin feared Yeonjun might have decided to nut out (these days he thought only in nut puns), with a heavy heart he started reading:

Good time of the day, Soobinnie,

before leaving this letter, I had to almond it a few times because the task of finding the right words was a hard nut to crack. We’ve known each other for quite a while now and yet haven’t spoken face to face even once ahah

Anyway, I wanted to offer you to bury the war nut because, in a nutshell, I’m running out of money and nut puns , plus at this point I cannut stand the taste of _The almond milk_ (Taehyun said you were very particular about the milk’s name. Who would have thought I’d become rivals with the president of the _The almond milk_ Club © hahah you are adorable, Soobinnie, you know that?) 

Will you, please, meet me under the big chestnut in the nearest park today at 5 p.m.? I would love to tell you a secret about peanut butter in this letter, but I am afraid that you would spread it. So, please come.

Forever yours,

Y.J. <3

After reading the letter Soobin released a breath he was holding. Maybe not all was lost? Maybe Yeonjun would still want to be friends with him? There was only one way to find out.

* * *

Exactly at 5 p.m. Soobin approached the big old chestnut tree that was growing in the middle of the park. He saw Yeonjun right away, the older looked gorgeous as always in his black beret, white t-shirt with some black text, dark jeans and a pair of Converse, but by the way he was pacing back and forth, adjusting the blanket on the ground (were they having a picnic?) one could easily tell he was nervous.

When Soobin came closer, Yeonjun immediately stopped in his tracks, smiled and said:

‘Hi, Soobinnie!’

‘Hello, hyung,’ Soobin returned the smile and waved.

‘D-do you want to sit?’ The older motioned to the blanket. ‘I have some food and,’ he hesitated for moment looking away. He finally said sheepishly, ‘almond milk.’

Soobin burst out laughing:

‘The infamous _The almond milk_?’ He asked through his fit of laughter.

Yeonjun blushed and nodded.

‘I’d love to, hyung!’ He gave him a warm smile.

The older beamed and hurried to the basket taking out kimpab, _The almond milk_ and a bottle of water.

Soobin looked at the bottle questioningly. Yeonjun smiled awkwardly rubbing the back of his head:

‘I kind of am allergic to the almond milk now.’ 

Soobin chuckled:

‘No wonders, hyung, you consumed unhealthy amounts of it!’

‘Hey!’ Yeonjun blushed even more. ‘It was worth it!’

‘Was it?’ Soobin smirked. Surprisingly, it was very easy to talk to the older, there was no awkwardness between them. Just two friends teasing each other.

‘Of course! Cuz I won in the end,’ he proudly puffed up his chest.

‘Sure, Yeonjun-ssi, sure.’

‘Hey-hey-hey! Don’t call me that,’ he suddenly attacked Soobin with tickles.

The younger fell on his back cry-laughing and trying to get Yeonjun’s hand off him.

‘Okay-okay, I won’t! I won’t!’

The tickles stopped as suddenly as they had started, the only difference was that now Soobin was caged underneath Yeonjun who surprisingly looked very serious.

‘Soobin-ah, do you know why I asked you to come here today?’

Soobin gulped and shook his head.

‘First time I saw you near the university last year you helped a lost girl find her mother. You gave her your almond milk and gently wiped away her tears. Without a second thought you went searching for the girl’s mum even though you were late for classes. I was mesmerized. And I wanted to talk to you ever since but didn’t know how. And then one day we accidently met at that milk nook in the shop and I remembered the girl and the milk you gave her and I wanted to get closer to you even if by just drinking the same almond milk. You were so cute that day too! Blushing and apologizing like crazy even though I was the one dying inside. The milk was okay, nothing outstanding but I noticed how much _you_ loved it and I had this stupid plan of talking to you: I wanted to buy up all the milk, then wait for you near the shop and share it but you were so angry when you realised it was all gone. It was even cuter than your blushing. An angry bunny! And that’s how our rivalry started. I could go on and on about how long it took me to finally leave the first note, how long I was coming up with the nut puns and how my heart melted every time you laughed reading them but my arms are kind of dying right now so I’ll just say this.

Choi Soobin, you make me go nuts, will you, please, be my boyfriend?’

Soobin was speechless. He had to process so much information, his heart was beating like crazy and his mind was foggy. _Choi Yeonjun_ liked him. Choi Yeonjun _liked_ him. Choi Yeonjun liked _him_. And then he noticed that Yeonjun’s arms were shaking from being stretched for this long so he immediately sat up, helping the older sit next to him.

‘So? What do you say?’ Yeonjun asked again, becoming more and more nervous.

Soobin smiled and finally answered:

‘Well, _nut_ urally, I’d love to be your boyfriend.’

The older let out an audible sigh.

‘Yah, Choi Soobin! One more nut pun and I swear I’ll kiss you!’

‘I’d love to see you pine,’ he smirked.

* * *

Sitting somewhere on a bench next to Beomgyu and Kai Taehyun said with a soft smile on his face:

They are as alike as two peanuts in a pod.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!
> 
> have a great day and, please, stay safe~
> 
> your socially_awkward_di
> 
> ｡o°✥✤✣/ᐠ｡ꞈ｡ᐟ\✣✤✥°o｡


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